MUMBAI: Five more Central jails in Maharashtra have been identified by the prison department for housing transgender inmates. At present, transgender persons apprehended from any part of the state are brought to three prisons - Thane, Yeravada and Nashik - and are kept in cells separate from male and female prisoners.
Creating spaces for transgender inmates in more prisons would reduce the possibility of any overcrowding in future if their numbers were to rise, officials said. Further, it would become possible to lodge them in a facility closer to their hometown, making it easier for friends and family to visit, they said.
"We have identified Taloja, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur prisons for lodging transgender inmates, in addition to Thane, Yeravada and Nashik prisons," said Sunil Ramanand, ADG Prisons. He added that changes would be made to the existing structure in the five prisons to accommodate them as new construction would take time. "But there will be a complete segregation of all genders. The transgender inmates will not come into contact with either the male or female prisoners," Ramanand added.
According to officials, separate cells provide transgender inmates with security, and if they are lodged with the lodged with the general population in the prison, it could expose them to targeted sexual abuse by fellow inmates. The Thane prison has, in fact, made a proposal to construct an entire barrack that can house at least 25 transgender inmates as the current cells can only accommodate about five to seven.
Activists have commended the move, but have added that awareness about medical issues faced by trans prisoners is still lacking. "An HIV positive trans prisoner was not being allowed to take medicines in a prison in western Maharashtra for nearly six months. Prison authorities were insisting on medical papers. I had to intervene and explain to prison officials that antiretroviral therapy (ART) was for life. But it was only when I went to a state-run hospital and got the necessary certificate that the medication was permitted," said Aarohi Walunj from Humsafar Trust, who leads health interventions for the trans community.
"Trans inmates need specialised care; some could be in the middle of hormonal therapy or facing an infection from a gender reassignment surgery," said Madhurima Dhanuka from the non-profit CHRI who has co-authored a study on challenges faced by transgender persons in Indian prisons. The CHRI study said that prisons must provide all transgender persons with access to medical care and counselling including with regard to reproductive health, access to HIV/AIDS information and therapy, access to hormonal therapy or other therapy as well as gender reassignment treatments wherever desired.
At the time of admission to a prison, each prisoner undergoes a body search for prohibited articles. "For a trans prisoner, this needs to be done by a specialised medical officer who has knowledge of medical issues faced by transgenders or by a person of their preferred gender," said Dhanuka. This also finds mention in an advisory issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs earlier this year.
